Description

What is a meta description?

The meta description is an HTML tag you can set for a post or page of your website. In it, you can describe what your page is about. Google shows it beneath your page’s title in the search results. 

Example:

What it looks like in the HTML code of the page:

<meta name=”description” content=”This ultimate guide cover all the important aspects of blogging. Find out how to set up a succesful blog or to make yours even better!”/>

Why do you need a meta description?

The meta description brings you an opportunity to convince search engine users that your page will offer what they are looking for.

Its purpose is simple: it needs to get someone searching with a search term on Google to click your link. In other words, meta descriptions are there to generate click-throughs from search engines.

Characteristics of a good meta description

1. Keep it up to 155 characters.
2. Use active voice and make it actionable. 

If you consider the meta description the invitation to your page, you have to think about your user and their (possible) motivation to visit your page. Make sure that your description isn’t dull, difficult or too cryptic. People need to know what they can expect to find on your page.

It should be active, motivating, and addressing you directly. You just know what you’re going to get if you click on the link!

3. Include a call-to-action

The meta description is your sales text. Except, in this case, the “product” you are trying to sell is the page that is linked. Invitations like Learn more, Get it now, Try for free come in handy and we use them too.

4. Use your focus keyword

If the search keyword matches a part of the text in the meta description, Google will be more inclined to use it and highlight it in the search results. This will make the link to your site even more inviting.

5. Show specifications, where possible 

If you have a product in your Shopify or WooCommerce store aimed at the tech-savvy, it can be a good idea to focus on the technical specs. For example, you can include the manufacturer, SKU, price, things like that. If the visitor is specifically looking for that product, chances are you won’t have to convince them.

6. Make sure it matches the content of the page

This is an important one. Google will find out if you use the meta descriptions to trick visitors into clicking on your result. They might even penalize you if you do it. But besides that, misleading descriptions will probably also increase your bounce rate.

7. Make it unique

If your meta description is the same as those for other pages, the user experience in Google will be hampered. Although your page titles might vary, all pages will appear to be the same because all the descriptions are the same. Instead of creating duplicate meta descriptions, you’d be better off leaving it blank. That being said, writing a unique meta description for every page you want to rank with is always the best practice.

If you’re on WordPress or Shopify and using Yoast SEO, adding a meta description is easy as pie. Firstly, you can write it in the Google preview section of Yoast SEO. But, Yoast SEO also gives you feedback on it in the SEO analysis. The plugin checks two things, the meta description length and whether you’ve used your focus key phrase in it.